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Canadian Confederation and Historical Explanation

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Book cover Britain and the Origins of Canadian Confederation, 1837–67

Part of the book series: Cambridge Commonwealth Series ((CIPCSS))

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Abstract

The doubts expressed in this study about the explanation of Canadian Confederation have a great deal to do with the way in which history is written. Broadly, historians have two tasks, one of description, and the other of explanation. The first is obviously basic to the second: unless we know what happened, we cannot hope to understand the reasons for it. Yet description is not always a straightforward process, for it involves both reconstruction and selection. It is often impossible to reconstruct past events, simply because the evidence does not survive. There can also be the welcome complication that new evidence may be located which forces a challenge to accepted interpretations of certain episodes, as happened when additional archives became available throwing light on the British response to the Canadian proposal of British North American federation in 1858.1 However, although lack of evidence is undoubtedly often a problem facing historians of Confederation, a more overwhelming hazard is that there is usually too much, and it is vital to select. The danger here is that the selection made may be influenced by the needs of the explanation adopted.

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Notes and References

  1. This section draws on Ged Martin, History as Science or Literature: Explaining Canadian Confederation 1858–1867 (Canada House Lecture, no. 41, London, 1989).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre of Canadian Studies, University of Edinburgh, UK

    Ged Martin (Director)

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© 1995 Ged Martin

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Martin, G. (1995). Canadian Confederation and Historical Explanation. In: Britain and the Origins of Canadian Confederation, 1837–67. Cambridge Commonwealth Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-11479-5_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-11479-5_2

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-349-11481-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-349-11479-5

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